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The Pioneer Spirit that mastt-rcd things 
And Broke the virgin sod. 

That conquered savages and kings. 
And only bowed to God, 

The Strength of mind and strength of 
soul - 
The will to do or die, 
^^^ That sets its heart upon a goal. 



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ORVILLE SOUTHERLAIJD COX 



Biographical sketch of Orville Southerland Cox, Pion- 
eer of I8I47, prjT^tly from a sketch written by Adelia 
B. Cox Sidwell for the "Daughters of the Pioneers", 

Manti7 Utah, 1913. • ..' ', '■ 

Orville S. Cox, was born in Plymouth, N.Y, 
November 25, l8lh. He 'was, one of a family of 
,12 children, ten of whom reached maturity. His 
\father died when he M&s about fifteen years old. 
And he was then "bound out 'J; apprenticed to 
learn the trade of a blacksirdth imder a dea- 
con Jones," who was considered an excellent 
man as he xjas a pillar of ihe church. The 
agreement was that he was to work obedient- 
ly until twentv one and that Jones was to 
give him board and clothes'; three months of 
school each vriinter, and teach him the trade 
of blacksmi thing. No schooling was given 
or allowed, and one pair of jer^ns p,ints was 
all the clothing he received during the 
first three years of his apprenticeship, and 
his food was rather limited too. The women 
folks ran a dairy, but the boy ^^^as never allow- 
ed a drink of milk, of which he .was very fond 
because the lirs., said "it made too big a hole ■ 
in the, cheese." He was indeed a poor little- 
bondsman, receiving plenty of abusive treatment. 
As to teaching' him the trade, he vras kept blow- 
ing the bellows and using the tongs and heavy 
sledge. But the deacon sometimes w6nt to dist- 
ant places and then the boy secretly used the tools and practiced doihg 
the things his keen eyes had watched his master do. During some of these 
hours of freedom, he, made himself a pair of skates from pieces of broken 
n-^i? s he gathered carefully and saved. 




^^.^^ 



Also, he straightened a discarded f.ain barrel and made a hammer, trig- 
ger, sights, etc, to it, so that he had an effective weapon,' These things 
he had to keep hidden, from the eyes of his master ?nd associates, but se-' 
cr-tly he had great joy in his nosessions and once in a while found a lit-' 
,tle trie to use them^ 

Occasionally the monotony at the bellovjs 
■ 'and with the tongs and sledge — was broken in other 
ways; -for example-at one time oxen were brought to 
shop to, be shod that had extrer. ely hard hoofs, callj 
"glassy hoofs". Whenever Deacon undertook to d'ri^)g' 
a nail" inj it bent. Cox straightened nails over 
and over, a^ nails v/ere precious articles in those 
days 'and must not be discarded because they \-iere 
bent. After a while, the boy said "let me". And 
he shod ti^e oxen t-athout bendine a single nail; 



And thereafter Cox shod the oxen, 
one and' all that c?me to the sb6p. 





Ovorville Southerland Cox - Cont 'd 



Page two 




One other pleasant duty was his: that of bur-;ing ch rcoal, as coal was 
then loncliscovered. He learned much of the trade of the woodman while attend*, 
ing to the pits in the depth of the mighty New York Forests, as well as having 
an opportrnity to j&f use his^^^ .-i2^s>«^=- " skates and gun a little. 

He acquired the cognoman 
~^ ' of "Desk" among his associates^ and 
when he had worked for something over 
three years, he care to the conclusion 
that was all he ever would acquire, 
along xijith harsh treatment; so during 
^ , one of the Deacon's visits to a distant parisli, ho gathered to- 

■^' . gt'-.her his few belonpinps and a lunch, between two days, shouldered his 

'-■-•me made gun and "hit the trail for the tall timber" c thit being the route 
on which he was least apt to be discovered. He made his xray tow-^rd the Sus- 
cuehannah river. First he reached the Tioga River, vihich was a branch of the 
Suscuehannah , He began- reconnoitcring lor a means of crossing or floating 
doTm the river and scon discovered a log canoe, "dug-out" as it was c.''?led, 
frozen in the mud. He decided to confiscate it as "contraband of war" and 
pried it up, launched it, and was soon floating and paddling in it doxm to- 
ward the junction of the Tioga and the Susquehannah, 

Sl'.ortly he felt his tired feet being submerged in cold watey. Stooping 
to investigate, he found that the log was leak7/' and rapidly fil'lan^ with water. 
He also found an old woolen firkin, a small baj^rel, that he aji^jice bepan mak- 
ing use of, bailing the water, alternately paddelin^, " steering 4nd bailing^ 
He ccn' inued doim stream, keeping near the shore as ipoSiSiblejij in case the old 
dug-out should get. the best of him. The second day 'he 'heard "Hello, there, 
x-AW vo^i take a Passenger?" from a man on shore, / Yes, if you'll help bail, 
steer, and ro"." "Barkis is willin", came the --;^:'''r€rply, iso (there were two in 
the log canoe, "^ [ v-\ 

'^hen they made better time. Hearing the 
they ^-aw a boat preparing to leave the dock 
Susauehannah, a priritive stern wheel packet \)ft 
(1831), He and his passenr'er applied themselves 
t--eir paddling,, bailing and steering, signalling 
wait; just as s'^e started he drew near enough to 
the cug-out to her deck. 



A f r ^e boyj For noxif he was sure pursuit xrould v. \> 
na' over+'!:e him. His passenger called "What shall J- ' 
dc '-dth this canoe?" "Keep her or let her float" shout|(±^ 
Cox^ (If the ovmcr of that dug-out vdll send in \\\.s /^^y^"^ 
bill for damages, 0,S, Cox's c'-dldi^en vdll cheerfullf 
settle.) As for food on this trip vdth the canoe, 
was plentiful and he was a good shot. While on this*^ i' ' 1 



gfcme 
While on this* 
boat, he must have worked his passage, for he had no 
money, J 




Q. boTd that boat Viith a Cargo of Southern PrO|duce, hey/' / 
first time in his life, saw an ora-ge. He remained on tfiislj' '-(\ 
little river packet some distance up the river, tho't)- lartdcd \ 
rative employment at lumbering and logging, and soufctimes at 



) 



for the'^ 

^ found lucV' 
the black- \ 



Orville Southcrland Cox - Cont'd - p-ge three 



smith's forge. Soon he had the good luck to find his two brothers, Walter 
Cold Aug! stus, rafting logs down the river. He was an expert at this himself. 

Now he learned th?t his mother, and her younger children, Amos, Harriet, 
Mary and Jonathan had gone to Ohio under the care of his older brother, vai- 
liam U., via the. great world fpmous Erie Canal; (at that time the largest 
canal in the world.) So by slow degrees and hard work he began to work his 
way towrd Ohio. Usually he worked for lumber companies. His two brothers 
did likexd-se. >^^ They literally walked all the x^ay through the forests, 
tl-e whole m/=^ length of the st.-te of New York, Finally they were un- 
ited as a jX/d y family in Nelson, Portage Co. Ohio, the former home of 
his f"- ture ^--■'VV ^ '^'^^s, Elvira, although she was at that time an emigrant 

The eight Cox boys continued their westward 
some of them re-^chcd California during- the gold 
Charles B. Cox was elected Senator from Santa 
Company for a number of terms, William U, had 
his property in a concern called the Phalanx 
defrauded by the officers of every cent and 
debt !l,?3000.00, an enourmous sum for those days, 
mother Lucinda, ^xid her f.qm.ily went to Mssouri 
hnd received the gospel in Ohio pre-viously. 
heard terrible stories of the outlawry of those 
Mormons"; but he became personally acquainted 

some (Among them a Sylvester Hulet) He 
they wore sinned against. He lived in Jack- 
County for a time, and ever aJter Jackson 

Missouri x-ras the goal of his ambition; He 
f) lieved to his. dying day that he should one 




put 

and was 
left in 
Orville 's 

Walter 

Orvij.le 

"awful 

with 

decided 

son 

Cornty 



I 



retxjrn to that favored spot. 



f\ llr//n ' ^!J Orville met and loved Elvira in Far 

■Jest, but was not baptized. He s^id he didn't propose to turn Mormon to pro- 
cure a wife. When the Saints were driven from Missouri, he located near Lima 
Illinois, mth a group of Mormons and helped build the Morley settlement. 

Hearing his 2l4th birthday, he was a thorough frontiersman, forester, 
lumbtrman, a splendid blacksmith, a natural bom engineer; in short a genius 
and an all around good fellow. He was six feet in his socks and heavy prop- 
ortionately, 

' '^Ihile here he won the heart of the orphan girl, Elvira P, Mills, who was 
living with her uncle, Sylv_Qster Hulet, But she hesitated about marrying a 
gentile, October 3, 1839, how'ever, she yielded, and they x-;ere married in 
Fatbei' Elisha 'Ihiting's home, r^t the I orley Settlement by Elder Lyman Wight, 

The two newly vreds, on October 6, 1839, drove into Nauvoo twenty miles 
away, -^nd Orville S. Cox was baptized by the Prophet Joseph Smith, He went 
a gentile and return d a full-fledged Mormon, so short a time it takes a 
woman to make a convert. He was a faithful L,D,S, ^ full of love 'Jid zeal. 
He w:"-S a. member of the famous brass band of the Nauvoo Legion. iJh^n the 
Prophet and his brother were killed, none mourned m.ore sincerely than he. He 
assisted those more helpless or destitute in the m.igration from Nauvoo, 
His stacks of grain were burned at the Morley settlement by the nobbers, and 
they fled to the City of Nauvoo, he -with his vafe nnd ti<io children — the old- 



Orville Southerland Cox - Cont 'd pape four 



est child had died when an infant as a result of its mother having chills 
and fever, and from excosure resulting from mobbers ' violence. 



the Saints 
claimed 
> ., and many 
^/ changed 
-(X>/^ Prophet's 
>^ V fl moment 

in the 
main- 
isist- 
, ^ shafts 

U^ 1 ial 



He attended the meeting v^ere Sidney Rigdon asked t 
to -^oDoint him as guardian, and where Bripham Young 
that the Twelve Apostles were the ordained leaders j 
times thereafter he testified that he saw Brigham Young 
to appe r like Joseph pjid heard his voice take on the 
tone, /md after that manifestation he never doubted fo 
that the rightful leadership of the Church was vested 
twelve, idth Prigham Yoiing nt their head. He re 
ed in Nauvoo till almost f-e last departed. He as- 
ed EroTSilig in transforming the old rusty steamer 
into cannons that were so effectually used by Dan 
H. 'fells at the Battle of N?uvoo. 

Leavinp Nauvoo T-ri.th the last of the Konnon 
iles, he crossed Iowa i,nd settled at Pisrah, 
he sei'ved as counselor to Lorenzo Snow, Fresid- ^ r" / ' 
at Mt. Pisgah, In his devoted attachment to Vj : J 
enzo Snow, he was an enthusiast; also to Father 
and h would follow their leadership anyiihere. 
and El-vira hnd their two children. Aimer and 

An incident th ^t illustrated the pioneer life 
1815-6 is told in the story of the "Last Hatch." 
winter of l8li5-6 Orville S. Cox and two ijhiting 
coufins of Elvira, vrent from Pisgah xdth ox teams 
wagons down into Missouri mth a load of di lirs tol 
I'Jhitings had a shop in w ich they manufactured 
Being successful in disposing of their chairs, and 
loads of bacon and corn, they were almost home x%'hen 
blii z,ard, or hurricane, or cyclone, or all in one, 
them. Clouds and Egyptian d'-rkness settled suddenly 
them. T^^ey had no modem "tornado cellors" to flee into and no manner of 
shelter of any kind. The cold was intense; the mnd came from ever direct- 
ion; thf V were all skilled backwoodsmen and kncv; they were very close to 
■ "u eir hc.aes; but they also knew that they were hopelessly lost in that swir- 
ling wind .-^nd those black clouds of snow. They and their oxen were freez- 
ing, and their only hope of life was in making a fire and camping where they 
were. Everything was wet and under the snow, and an arctic wind in the 
fierceness of unclaimed violence was raging around them. At first, they un- 
yoked the oxen that they rright find some sort of shelter for themselves. Then 
with frost-bitten fingers they sought in the darkness and storm for dry fuel. 
T>ie best they found was dam.p and poor enough — .-^nd now for a match. Only 
tTee in the crowd, and no such matches as we have in these days either. In- 
side a large vrooden bucket in i,jhich they fed grain, they carefully laid their 
kindl'.ng. Then turning another bucket over it to keep out the falling snow, 
and hufjging close over to keep the wind off, they lifted the top bucket a 
littlj and one of the VJhiting boys struck a precious match. It flickered, 
blaze.'- a moment against the kindling and was puffed out by a draft of wind, 
imothcr mrtch was taken, and it died almost before it flared. Only one match 
remainad to save three men from certain de^th. Their fingers were so numb 
they could mt feel, and every minute increased the numbness, "Let Orville 
Try; he is st :vdier than we", they said. So Orville, keenly sensing his re- 




Orville Sovtherland Cox - Cont 'd - Page f ivfe 

sponsibility, took the tiny splinter of wood, and struck the spark; it caught, 
it blazed and the fire lived and grew. 

Now they were in the woods ;^nd the fuel was plentiful and soon a roaring 
blaze was swirling upvrnrd* The cattle came ne.-^r, and although their noses 
and feet were frozen, their feet grew new hoofs ''Jid their noses healed of 
frosted cracks. ■.Ihen the storm broke and light appeared, they found them- 
selves only a few rods from their home fences. 



For a good repson, Orville was not in the Battalion draft. The »\lhiting 
boys, Silvester Hulet, and Amos Cox were. But Orville was very busy manufac- 
turiv'f: vragons. It was told of him that he found a linch pin and said, "I'll 
just aake a war^on to fit that pin". He prepared as good and serviceable an 
outfit as his 'limited means would allow for the long dreary journey to the 
mountains. Two home m?de wagons, ijithout brakes--brakes vjere not needed on 
the eastern end of the journey — tx«70 yoke of oxen, three yoke of cows, a box 
of chickens on the back of a wagon, a iirife and ti.'o children, with bedding and 
food, wa? the outfit that started across +he plains the last of Jvine 18^7, 
singing he song "In the spring ^^ '11 take our journey. All to cross the 
grassy plains." He travelled in the hundred of Ch:'.rles C. Rich, known as the 
Artillery Company, Cox was captain of one of the tens. Oh,' the seemingly 
endless level nrairiej The monotony wzS terribly wearing, ii/hen Independence 
Rock was sirhted, and again when Chimney Rock was sighted, it was a wonderful 
relief. Gre^t land marks they were, in that unsettled country. Now they 
were sure they were approaching the Rocky iiountains, especially the children 
longed for that goal. 

One evening at camping time, U;00 P.M., a heard of buffalo were sighted 
about two miles away. The people were very hungry for a piece of fresh beef, 
so Fati-er and one companion shouldered their guns, snatched their percussion 
caps and powder >^cms, and started to "try a hunter's luck," About sunset 
they pot their steak, a generous load of the best cuts from the Buffalo, and 
started for camp. On 3-nd on they went, i/hat they thought was a two mile 
stretch lenpt.hened .and lengthened, and their loads of meat grew heavier and 
heavier. They began to think ilag^lJSxelllSst ; 'But^tijje'^amp^ 'fires and stars 
told them they were ^--^^ ^ 

going in^the right 




d\rectic i. Finally they A^' 



/.y/y v^' decided to fire their guns. 

This they did, and it filled 'the cdj^ with alarm, least the hunters vjere in 
danger. Two or three men rushed a^^rd.v in the d.-^rkness to give aid, and they 
fired their guns to locate the hunters. Several shots brought them together. 
"Help us vjith this rrub pile", they said. Help was given. They reached the 
c.amp at 11:00 o'clock. It must have been six riles or perhaps ten to the 
herd of buffalo. They were novj in the clear air of the up-lands and could 
see much farther than thery had been able to set in the I'assissip^i valley. 



Oivillc Southcrland Cox - Cont 'd - Page six 

The next morning all in the camp had a feast of fresh meat. 

After leaving the Platte River, idiile travelling along the 
sweet Water River, the company met General Kearney and 
his company of Battalion scouts with their illustrious 
prisoner, the great path-finder Freemont, 




(Vi/hen California x^ras freed from Mexican rule, 
Freenont and his little band, who had helped to free 
it, were gre?tly rejoiced; and in their enthusiasm his 

yolloxixers proclsimed Freemont governor. General Keam- 
j arrived ^r-nd expected to be governor by right of his 
generalship. He was very angry and had Freemont 
,xrrosted and sait to Washington, 

i'/ith Freemont 's guards were Sylvester Hulet, Elvira's IMcle, and 
Amos Cox, They had traveled many x^reary months in .an unknoim, lonely 
country; and C. C. RJ.chc's company were also travel we-^ry. To thus 
rvaet relatives and friends so unexpectedly was a joy unspeakable to 
both parties. ' . . 

Now the Battalion men heard from their families left in Iowa, for 
the first time in more than a year. And tears of joy and sorrovx were 
freely mingled. A daughter of Amos h^d died. Sylvester's vdfe had 



gone to Kevj York where the iiSiitrnt 



and her father and 



so he decided to return to the Rocky liountains with the 
pioneers, and Kearney gave him his discharge. Amos 
c ntinu2 d x«;ith the prisoner to Fort 

avenvxorth, where he received his 
honorable dishcarge, and then wen 
his iirearj' v;aiting family in Iowa, 




The pioneering company con? 
tinued on westward. At Green River, 
near Bridcer's St-^tion, they net 

^ pion-.er's who had reached Great Salt 
Lake Valley and made a start towar3~3. 

.now home;- and were nov; returning to thcT camps - , . 

in lovra, with more definite knowledge and. instructions ' 
to impart to those i>iho vrere to. come to the mountains next year. They 
told Rich's company man:9' things regarding the iray that lay before them, 
and it was a great relief to know th-^t they were nearing t eir destin- 
ation. 

From now on the m_ountains wei-e on every side; frovming cliffs 
looked ready to fall on and crush the poor foot-sore travelers; for 
Deople raised on the Plains are apt to have a shuddcrinp. of such 
sights. C. G. Riche 's ?rtillcry company rolled into the valley of the 
great Salt Lake. They were only two or three days behind Judediah M, 
Grajit.'s company of one hundred wagons. 

Being exn^rt in hcjidling limber, Cox vras riiir--.ediately. sent into 
the canyon for logs. Houses must novr be built. Among other timbers, 
[_ he brought down a miugnificent specimen of a pine for M "liberty Pole", 
which he assisted in r.iising on Pioneer Squere, It was the first 



Orville Southcrland Cox - Cont 'd - page seven 



pole to carry the stars and stripes in t^e city. One had been raised on En- 
sign Peak before. They wintered in Salt Lake Valley. There another son, Or- 
ville H, , was bom November 29, l8U7-i 

Very early in the spring of 18U8 fathe^^aisve^ from 
the Adobe Fort with his wife and three chy^ren,- "Oo, 
and began farming in ScssionsvilJpy^<T^Jo^afifulj^ " 
Ho was the first bishop of the <mr(i^^ 
There they had the famous expcricnci 



with tl.e crickets. He devised the E^:^ — -^'/■z ^' 

broad paddles, as well as the oft 

mentioned methods, to try to cxtor 

minrtu them; and then came the 

Gulls o He raised a crop in 'IjS 

and 'Ii9 there; also he dug f 

first well in Bountiful, 

and struck water so suddenly as 

to be aliiost drowned by it be- / '■ 

fore he cculd be hauled up. In 

the fall of 'h9 he vxas calledvo'//^/. ^, \'\^ f^ 

to gr, with "Father" Morley 's b^mnan;^]^ \ m\\\ | 

to colonize the valley of Sannitc^ ^''V '^'» * /»■ 




->/T 



vU\^ 






He arrived at the future site of J-ferft^^ " November 19, 18U9. The 
journey from Salt Lake City to thu Sanpete Valley occupied one month, breaking 
new roads, fixing fords, and building dug-xrays. The forty families worked in- 
dustriously, sometimes only movin' forward two or three miles. One six mile 
stretch in Salt Creek Canyon occupied them a whole week. The only settlement 
between Salt Lake and Hanti was Provo, ccnsjLsting of a little fort of green 



Cottonwood logs, 

j\fter^V getting throu 
worked to// their upmost 



-jTO weeks, \\ "* 
gan -^ V 



Salt ftc^ockCanyon in t-jTO weeks 
en^tS^ f orifr b^gan ^^ 




Orville Southerland Cox - Cont'd - page eight. 




snowiag on them there; , 

tor 's he nc. 

"ith 

rr.c- 

thei» 

the> 



and it was far from being a desirable win- 

^.^^ f^ ijinter w§s one of the hardest 

JlJrv^/rlf heaviest snow fall for many 
nC^.-W'^'^v^ ceeding years. Arriving at 
^ "'' " ' destination, camp was made by 
Morley's company on the south 
Temple Hill which was a shelt- 
do their upmost in canyons. 



Ni /■/•' 



side of ' ■ 

c^J& sijT'b, Now they, must "^^^C^ ^^ 

rais-'.ng In^ cabins; sawing lumber^pr^^Jjble saw pit, which was the most primitive 

o: savj mills. 



Ori.-illc v:as an expert at hcTTing and squaring the logs with his ax, and 
mi-kif everything as comfortable as possible in their new home. All winter 
long 'j-'rey had to help the cattle find feed by shovelling snow in the meadows, 
as thw snow lay four feet deep. It was liay before the snow was gone so that 
the men could begin. to clear the ground and begin their f.-^rming. Then there 
C£jnc irrigating ditches to dig and the usual labor of clearing, plowing, ann'. 

ijjtfcitj,' g^ 

Between their individual duties, they found time to build log school, 
and a bowery, and then a meeting house. They felt th-^t it was quite commod- 
ious. Here in the long evenings of the idnter of l85C-5l Go:: taught a sing- 
ing and dancing school, Sarah Petty was the first school I^'ia 'am. In the 
winter of 1850-^1, school was tau^t by Jesse W, Fox, In 1850 he was elected 
Alderman, 



0. S, Cox married Mary Allen about I851i; he served many years as the . 
first counselor to Bishop Lowry; and he was captain of the Militia, He was 
very energetic in the performance of his duties ,, specially through the pro- 
tracted Txriod of the V/alker war. He "i^rricd^^^^^::::^^^^^^^^^ 
Miza Lcoee about 1857-59, He served under 
I-.jor Hi '-^' ins, an old Battalion veteran. 

To be sure, nobody appreciated more 
he did a liberty pole, and all that it 
typified, so he was comrlssioned to findi 
one at the earliest convenient moment' 
for lianti; this he did in 1850, Ten' 



years he labored faithfully for the \ 
upbuilding of Manti, and then like 
Boon -^nd Crockett, "he wanted 
more ^Ibow room" and moved to Fair- 




view, Sanpete County. He also moved par-fr' c:^*^'^'^ ^ '^V'^ 

of his family to Gunnison (Hog Vfelloxj, ii^^p^C? ^'^ 

was c'lled then) ^-^nd r-ised two crops there, n-^y^ ^ /^ 

In February l86h, he moved pgrt of his family ^^^-^ ^ 

to denwood, built a cabin there and raised a*"^ c;^ ^ 

crop. He sold out .and moved elsewhere to engineer ditchus, I^J engineered 

over forty ditches in Utah and Nevada, as near as his children can remember 

in 1919, as well as doing all other kinds of pioneer iiiork. 




^^ 



In 1865 he was advised by Lorenzo Snow to move to the mddy, a branch of 

the Rio Virgin, a stream running through Hoappa Valley, to assist in suirvey- 

ing and making irrigation ditches there, Th<. soil was vury rich, but there 

vfas 30 much quick sand that it mcide it almost impossible to build a dam 1h at 



Orvillo Southcrland Cox - Cont 'd - page Nine 

hold or to irrigtte without washing away the soil. So he went south into 

southeastern Nevada. He thought that w-s the route the saints would travel 

going back to Jackson County, so he was 
that much' nearer the final home. He lab- 
ored here for six years, and engineered a 
numbel* of dams th-t would hold against the 
floods and treachery of quicksand. They 
htid only poor home made plows and a few 
other tools to work mth, and no cement 
or modern building m?.terial. He also 
built cabJns and cleared and tilled the 
land there. In clearing the land, the 

"Mes quite ' brush root was the hardest dig- 
ging they encountered, St. Thomas, St, 
Joseph -'nd Ovurton,tfefe- 3 -townsai-the-^all^. 

^cre p-i.rtly of his building. The first 

trip, he took with him his third wife, 




jiliza, and hv^r one child, a little 
two year old girl; and VJalter,. a ll; 
voir old son of the first wife, 
Elvira, The following year, after 
.^ — -~-\ crops were in ind the spring work 
^^^-iionc^ he returned to Fairviuw after 
3>-^*Cj~\) Ti r\ another section of his fam- 
ily — Maiy, the second id.fe, 
and her five children. From 
that time on 0, S, Cox's life 
is a volume of tragedy and hard- 
ship. The life in the burning 
desert is alvjays more or less 
unpleasant, and pionei^ring is excessively 
hard. And he was past fifty years old. 



l^on a jolting wagon seit she rode 
Across the tr.-ickless prarie to the west, 
Or trudged behind the oxen Tjith a goad, 
A slL._^'ing child cl-^.sp-d tightly to her 

breast, ■ 
Frail flesh rebelling, but spirit nev(.jr- 
Vjhit tiles the d'lrk coula tell of woman's 



During his absense, Eliza's little 
girl Lucinda, took her little pail 
to the creek to get some waterj 
the quicksand caused h>-r to slip 
and she xjas drowned. They took her 
out not very far down the stream, 
but could not resusitate hur. The 



tears ,'i— 
Her br'^vcry incentive to endeavor; 
Her Inirhter spurring strong men past 
their feirs, 

to her valor and her comeliness •_ 
A comraonvjealth today owes its whitd 

domes ■ ' ' . '• 

Of St- to, its fields, its hi^ways, and (iid not come to get him to sleep and 

its homes — t?at. They told Eliz a of their fears 

Its cities wrested from the wilderness, for him, and so the disconsolite 
It ben^: s in memory above the h-'.nd mother tried to hide, her own grief 
Tiat ge-.;tled, womrji-wise, a savage land, ^d comfort him. It is said it was 

the saddest thing the woman there 
Ethel Romig Fuller- ever saw, to see the brave mother and 



poor raother, among strangers and 
homesick, was unconsolable in her 
sorrow. Halter seeing his little 
pet companion stricken in all her 
robust beauty and health, was indld 
with grief, and coiiid not be comfcr ted, 
.If ter a time tl e neighbors concluded 
that Walter vrould die if soirc change 



Orvillc Southerl-ind Cox- 



Cont'd - Page Ten 




the boy trying to comfort each other in their lonliness. Fifty years later, 
it was a hightin-^xe to Walt, 

AJjner, lawn, and Walt all went to the Muddy in 1867, the year Mary was 
moved, nh 1868 Philmon, fifth son of Elvira, a vury promising lad of thir- 
teen, died of appendicitis, at that time called inflaraation of the bowels, 
"Then ilary lost a little daughter, Lucy for whom she grieved many years. 

Financially the prospects were more promising than ever before. They 
had pl-uted a large orchard, and a vineyard th-^t was just coming into bear- 
ing. Then a new line was run between the states of Utah and Nevada, which 
gave this section to Nevada, and Nevada demanded back taxes; .and they am- 
o\mted to more than their farms and houses were worth. So Brigham Young 
said, "Come home to Utah." They came, 

Elvira, with Orville a grown son, Walter 17, Tryphcna, Amasa and Eu- 
phrasia, returned to the old home in Fairvicw, leaving all of their beaut- 
iful peach orchards and vineyards, fields of cotton, cane, wheat and the 
comfortable houses in the most fertile of lands, vhich thoy had subdued and 
made to "Blossom as the Rose" by seven long years of toil and privation. 
They rendered absolute obedience to their great leader; and so they hitched 
up their teams, took their most choice belongings, and wended their way back 
to Utah, leaving their settlemant and farms to pay Nevada the back taxes it 
had demanded. 

One company vfhich had thoroughly learned the trick of btiilding a dam in 
qiiick sand of the desert, stopped at an abondoncd settlement in Long Valley, 
Kane County, 0, S, Cox and sons began the engineering of irrigation canals 
and dpins, and so on, as they had cleaned and repaired the deserted cabins, 
so th t they offered p-'Ttial shelter from the February storms. The people 
n-'med this town Mt, Carmel, 



When the former settlers learned th^t they had builded dams that would 
stand, they came back and said "Get Out, this is ours," So the weary pion- 
eers moved again, this time only a few miles farther up the valley into a 
nleasart narrpx s,,^^^_v _ ^^ . cove, -md went to aa, work to 



build more 



dams, more ditches 



&f 




and more 






cabins. In one place the water had to be carried across a gulley, nnd it 
gave more trouble than all the rest of the canal, .\fter a while Cox, with- 



Orville Southerland Cox - Cont 'd - Page Eleven 

out comment or any consultation, went into the timber and found a very large 
log and felled it, made of it a huge trough, placed it across the gully and 
it reached far enough to secure a solid bed above the quicksand. Thirty 
years later, this "Cox" Trough" was still doing successful service as a 
flume , 



In 1875, when Brigham strongly taught the principle- of Cooperation, 
this company of saints were orgr.nized by unan-^-^^^ imous consent into the 



vmitcd order of Enoch, and named their toi- 
little property, r.iostly cattle, horses and 
jointly. Twelve years father labored joy- 
in t:-j3 "Order", The town gre\7 and thrived; 
trades were remarkably well represented by 
peilty and a measure of plenty was there, 
fact that there vjerc more inf rm pepple 
any ward in the church. 





Orderville, Their 
wagons, were owned 
ousiy and unselfishly 
arts, schools and 
the young, Pros- 
inspite of the 
in l^hat ward than 



/. 



Then dissatisfaction and disunion v^^^ 
"Order" broke up. There was not a greaty / 
ty to divide, although some people came ^^T '^(ij_\\^\ v\ z? ) 
prOj-crty than others, according to the aKouivD \ V-^ 
crated in. Ilary and Elizo., father's second I ■^ ,tS)i, '\^^q 
wives, each received a team and wagon, Maryi" 1 / '. 
family located in Huntington, Emery County, 
family in Tropic, Garfield County, Father 
'■rell along in years, and broken in health, 
could do little more than advice his sons. 
Eliza was dying of cancer. In I886 Orville 
S. Cox cr'jne to F■^.irvicx^r to the best-providtd] 
for branch of his fainily. One year he re- 
mained an inv?,lid, and on July U, 1868 he 
laid his exhausted body down to rest. The 
passing was quiet and peaceful. His two \Av^ 
Elvira, and Mary and. many of his descendentsK' 
at the last, — — ./ 



y 

came, an3" the 
deal of proper- 
out with more 
they conse- 
and third 
and her 
Eliza oTid her 

^jas then 
^^<V He 




I y> were with hi-n 



The follomng are some of the thriving towns 0, Ci»^. Cox assisted in 
founding: Lima, 111.; Pisg.-Ji, Iowa; Salt L-kc City, Bountiful, lianti, Gun- 
nuson, Fairview, Glenwood of Ut-h; St. Thomas, St. Joseph, Overton of Nevada 
Mt. Carmei, Orderville and Tropic of Utah, 

If man ever earned his salvation, surely 0,S, Cox did. Always found in 
the v-^n vrhere the hardest work was to be done, and if he advanced the cause 
one iota, no matter at what loss, or cost to himself, he considered he had 
. been ..eminently successful. Never was there a murmur from him. 

To illustrate the ingmuity of 0, S. Cox's ditch making, here is the 
story of. the Pig KLow as told by an old settler of Fairview, Pappas Brady, 

"IThen the ditch was first laid out that was rfteriNTards called "City 
Ditch", every mm rnd boy was called on to come and work on it every day til 
it would carry water. This was in the spring, .and it had to be finished be- 
fore the fields were ready to be plowed and planted. The men turned out well 
with tk,?jns '"jid plows, picks and crow bars and shovels. There was a rocky 



Drvillo Southerlond Cox -Cont'd - Page TWclve - 

point at the head of the ditch to be cut through, and it was hard pan, about 
like cement. Couldn't be touched by plow, no sireej no- more than nothing. 
We was just prying the gravel loose with pick? and crowbars, and looked like 
it would take us weeks to do six rods. Yes, six weeks. Cox looked at us 
working and sweating, and never offered to lif a finger. No sir, never done 
a t-.pj just looked and then without saying a word, he turned around anJ walk- 
ed off,, Yes, sir, walked off J Well of all the mad bunch of men you ever saw 
I guess ire was about the maddest. Of course, we didn 't swearj we was Mormons 
'Jid the Bishop was there, but we watched him go and one of the men says, 
"■/fell, I didn't think Cox was that kind of a feller". His going discouraged 
the rest of us, just took the heart out of us. But of course vje plugged away 
pretendin • to work the rest of the day, .and dragged back the next morning," 



"We wercn 't near all there when here came Cox, I don 't just remember 
whether it was four yoke of oxen or six or eight, for I was just a boy, but 
it was a long string and they was eveiy one a good, pulling ox, ^ind they was 
hitched on to a plow, a plumb, new kind, yes sir, a nev; kind of plow. It was 
a gre-^t big pitch pine log, about fouEt^en^f'eet longj and may ha.ve been eight 
een, >;ith a limb stickin ' dox-.m like /(s if rm arm and hand was the log and my 
thumb +hc linbj he h-^.d bored a hole(^;;______I_L through the log^ -'.nd put a 

crow b-r down in front of the kn^o^ji,..,-;----'''''""'""^ '^ _^ and cross ways along the 

log back of the limb he bored hoTSS'l^^^ Vv^Wy^l and puv stout oak sticks 
throu-h for spikes. They were the y^' jr y'^f^plow handles; and he had ei- 



ght r.vAi get ahold of them handles 

and he Icded a bunch of men along on^''^: 

spoke to his oxen," ' ' 



"Great Scott, ye otcr 
ye ot.r heard us fellj 
sir, he plowed 
five times and tfiat ditch 
made. All that the 




. '^was J'' 

to shovel out thr; looSc ~ 

more in half a day .^ 
rest of us could a done 

"I-r ;y didn 't- he'tell 
the fir; t thing, so wc_ 
so discouraged, and hate 
cause he knew itr-iTOinhii 't 
of good to talk, 
the Bishop; -^n d ey , en 
been, pl^ns like that wo^ld 
hooted at by half the 
No, sireej His way was 
Just shut up '^.nd dg^ 
vjhen a bunch of men 
a thing a workin ' they 
believe; yes, sir, 
seein ' is believin," 



md hold the plow level 
that log, -nd then he 



the gravel fly, and 
and holler,' Vfell, 
1 ditch line four or 
\made, practically 
f us had to do was 
stuff; he done 
than all the 
six v/eeks, 

his plans 
wouldn 't be 
him so? iJhy, 
do a might 
He wasn 't 
if hr> had 
auro bs^ 
ellerf 
,the bes 
and 
s« 



31 



9-9 




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